I have finished re-designing and re-machining the HF XY Compound vise.
Nothing can be done about it being light weight but I am happy with its
accuracy and action. I clamped a 1-2-3 block on the top surface set 0-0 with
my DTI along the X axis using the compound for all motion. Then I moved the
DTI to the adjacent face that is parallel to the Y axis. The DTI again read
0-0. The top surface showed a variation of -0.0005" at the front left corner
wrt the front right corner. The back right corner showed an error of 0.001".
This error comes from 3 castings stacking up with 2 of the 3 able to move.
All dove tails have been lapped giving the motion a very satisfying feel.
I've added more pictures to the folder "Re-machined Harbor Freight XY
table".
My conclusion is that although there is no way to take a $60 XY compound and
make it into a $500 unit, it can certainly be greatly improved. The castings
were easy to machine and so far I have found little if any warpage. No
inclusions were found.
Rick
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/gingery_machines/app/peoplemap/view/map
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